Merida Doll

Free Merida crochet tutorial by Laraña @laranha.handmade.

With this tutorial, you can crochet a Merida doll from the movie Brave. The tutorial also includes a bow-and-arrow pattern. For this amigurumi project, any acrylic yarn, cotton yarn, or cotton blend yarn with a suitable hook will work.

Materials and Tools

• Cotton yarn in the following colors: skin tone, white, green, light brown, dark brown, orange, a little blue, and yellow
• 2 mm crochet hook
• Safety eyes
• Toy stuffing
• Pastel or blush
• Sewing needle
• Scissors

Abbreviations

• MR - magic ring
• ch - chain stitch
• sl st - slip stitch
• sc - single crochet
• hdc - half double crochet
• inc - increase
• dec - decrease
• (...) x n - repeat n times

Amigurumi Merida Doll Crochet Pattern

Body

We start crocheting Merida's body from the legs. Make two identical pieces. Use skin-tone yarn:

Round 1: 5 sc in MR (5)
Round 2: 5 inc (10)
Rounds 3-10: 10 sc (10)
Switch to white yarn
Round 11: 10 sc (10)
On the second leg, do not cut the yarn. Make 4 ch and attach the second leg to the first
Round 12: 5 sc, inc, 13 sc, inc, 8 sc (30)
Work round 12 by crocheting through stitches on both sides of the chain
Rounds 13-15: 30 sc (30)
Switch back to skin-tone yarn
Round 16: 4 sc, dec, (8 sc, dec) x 2, 4 sc (27)
Round 17: 27 sc (27)
Round 18: (7 sc, dec) x 3 (24)
Round 19: 24 sc (24)
Round 20: 3 sc, dec, (6 sc, dec) x 2, 3 sc (21)
Round 21: 21 sc (21)
Round 22: (5 sc, dec) x 3 (18)
Round 23: 2 sc, dec, (4 sc, dec) x 2, 2 sc (15)
Round 24: (3 sc, dec) x 3 (12)

Fasten off and cut the yarn, leaving a long tail to sew the body to the head.

Head

Use skin-tone yarn:

Round 1: 7 sc in MR (7)
Round 2: 7 inc (14)
Round 3: (sc, inc) x 7 (21)
Round 4: sc, inc, (2 sc, inc) x 6, sc (28)
Round 5: (3 sc, inc) x 7 (35)
Round 6: 2 sc, inc, (4 sc, inc) x 6, 2 sc (42)
Round 7: (5 sc, inc) x 7 (49)
Round 8: 3 sc, inc, (6 sc, inc) x 6, 3 sc (56)
Rounds 9-17: 56 sc (56)
Insert eyes in round 9 with 10 stitches between them
Round 18: 3 sc, dec, (6 sc, dec) x 6, 3 sc (49)
Round 19: (5 sc, dec) x 7 (42)
Round 20: 2 sc, dec, (4 sc, dec) x 6, 2 sc (35)
Round 21: (3 sc, dec) x 7 (28)
Round 22: sc, dec, (2 sc, dec) x 6, sc (21)
Round 23: (sc, dec) x 7 (14)
Round 24: 7 dec (7), cut the yarn; use a needle to close the opening and hide the tail.

The closed part of the head should face up, and the beginning should face down when sewn to the body.

Arms (2 pieces)

Use skin-tone yarn:

Round 1: 5 sc in MR (5)
Rounds 2-10: 5 sc (5)

Close the top of the arm by crocheting 2 sc through both sides. Sew the arms to the body one or two rows below the neck.

Hair

For the first part of Merida's hair, work all rounds in back loops only.

Round 1: 7 sc in MR (7)
Round 2: 7 inc (14)
Round 3: sc, inc (21)
Round 4: 2 sc, inc (28)
Round 5: 3 sc, inc (35)
Round 6: 4 sc, inc (42)
Round 7: 5 sc, inc (48)

Round 7 is optional. Add it if you want fuller curls.

Now we work the curls. Do not cut the yarn.

Curl: 30 ch, 30 inc (60), 4 sl st into the hair base in back loops. Repeat this 8 times (you will have 8 curls).

The remaining curls to the end are made like this:
Curl: 30 ch, 20 inc, 10 sc (50), 4 sl st into the hair base in back loops, into the loops left at the base.

When you reach the center of the base, you will have a full wig. Cut the yarn, leaving a long strand for sewing it to the head. Secure the curls and sew the wig base to the head. Also sew down a few strands so there are no gaps and the hair looks "combed".

If you want longer curls for Merida, increase the number of chains and make increases along the full length of the first 8 curls. For the following curls, always make 10 sc at the end and increases in the remaining stitches.

Dress

Use green or turquoise yarn. We will work in hdc. The first part of the dress is crocheted in the round; after that, do not close the round and turn the piece.

Make 21 ch
Round 1: start in the 2nd chain from hook. 2 hdc, 3 hdc in 1 stitch, (4 hdc, 3 hdc in 1 stitch) x 3, 2 hdc, 1 ch and turn (28)
Round 2: hdc inc, 2 hdc, hdc inc, skip 6 stitches and work into the 7th stitch: hdc inc, (hdc, hdc inc) x 2, 2 hdc, hdc inc, skip 6 stitches and work into the 7th stitch: hdc inc, 2 hdc, hdc inc, 1 ch and turn (24)
Round 3: (3 hdc, hdc inc) x 6, 1 ch and turn (30)
Round 4: 30 hdc, 1 ch and turn (30)
Starting from the next round, join the last hdc to the first hdc with sl st to close the dress without sewing
Round 5: 30 hdc, join with sl st in the first stitch
Rounds 6-8: 2 ch, 29 hdc, sl st in the first stitch

Dress Sleeves

Use green or turquoise yarn. Attach yarn to one of the stitches we left unworked earlier; we will crochet in the round:

Rounds 1-2: 7 hdc (7)
These are the 6 stitches we left unworked. Crochet into those 6 stitches and add one more in the underarm space of the dress
Switch to yellow yarn:
Round 3: 7 hdc (7)
Switch back to green yarn:
Round 4: 7 hdc (7)

Make the same for the second sleeve. If you want Merida's dress longer or shorter, add or remove rounds as desired.

Shoes

Use brown or dark brown yarn:

Round 1: 5 sc in MR (5)
Round 2: 5 inc (10)
Round 3: 10 sc in BLO (10)
Round 4: 10 sc (10)
Round 5: 6 sc, 2 dec (8)

Fasten off and hide the yarn tail.

Bow

Use brown or dark brown yarn:

Round 1: 5 sc in MR (5)
Rounds 2-13: 5 sc (5) Cut the yarn, close the opening with a needle, and hide the tail
Use light brown yarn
Make 6 ch and sew it to the bow.

Quiver (Arrow Bag)

Use brown yarn.

Strap

31 ch, 30 sl st

Bag

Round 1: 6 sc in MR (6)
Round 2: 6 inc (12)
Round 3: 12 sc in BLO (12)
Rounds 4-7: 12 sc (12)

Arrows

Use brown yarn:

Step 1: 11 ch
Step 2: 7 sl st
Step 3: make 7 ch and 7 sl st
Step 4: make 7 ch and 7 sl st
Step 5: make 7 ch and 7 sl st

Arrowheads

Use light brown yarn.

Work into the 3 stitches at the arrow tips you just made, like this: 2 sc, 1 ch, sl st (into the ch you just made), 1 sc. Cut and hide the yarn tail; do the same for all 4 arrows. When the small "bundle" of arrows is done, insert it into the bag with arrow tips facing up.

Toy Assembly

• Put all accessories on Merida.
• Embroider the eyebrows with orange yarn, and the nose in skin color (optional).
• Embroider freckles on Merida's cheeks.
• Add a little blush on the freckles to decorate the cheeks.